Spartan Buys 2 Self Storage Facilities

This purchase marks the company's eighth and ninth facilities in the Pacific Northwest.

Spartan Investment Group has closed on a pair of self storage facilities in Salem, Ore., totaling 164,752 net rentable square feet and 1,150 units. Public Storage will manage the two new acquisitions.

“The Salem self-storage market is well-occupied, signaling strong demand and limited availability,” Spartan Investment Group CEO and cofounder Scott Lewis told Multi-Housing News. “With only one new development facing delays in planning, this will make for a favorable competitive landscape that will provide resilience over the lifetime of an investment.”

Glen Creek is a 633-unit facility with 93,252 net rentable square feet built in 1992. Blossom Drive is a 615-unit facility with 71,500 net rentable square feet built in 2006.

Key amenities, retail centers and new developments are easily accessible from each asset, which will receive expanded upgrades.

“With the Salem self storage market filled with aging facilities, there is an opportunity to differentiate the Glen Creek and Blossom Drive facilities from older competitors through strategic improvements,” Lewis said. “These improvements, including improved curb appeal, are expected to be completed by the end of the year.”

These facilities mark the eight and ninth Pacific Northwest acquisitions from the Colorado-based firm, which gained ownership of five in the area in 2024.

Spartan’s first ground-up development in Oregon was constructed in 2022 when it built FreeUp Storage Sandy, a 51,000-square-foot, 353-unit facility in Sandy, Ore., about 65 miles northwest of Salem. At the time, the facility was the 51st addition to the portfolio of self storage units owned by Spartan across ten states.

Spartan also owns a storage property in Black Diamond, Wash., and apartment communities in Portland and Vancouver, Wash.

Self storage fundamentals

Lending sources in the self storage sector have been shifting lately. Recently, the industry has transformed from a bank-dominated space into a more diverse landscape with financing coming from debt funds, private lenders and insurance companies. And a lot of these investors are keen on self storage fundamentals.

“We continue to see growth in investor appetite for the Pacific Northwest, with underlying storage fundamentals acting as a key driver,” Matthew Wheeler, director in JLL’s self storage capital markets team, told Multi-Housing News. “Salem, in particular, has seen virtually no supply brought online in the past three years, which has helped alleviate downward pressure on move-in rates and outperform much of the country.”